Cards on the table before anything else:We run a competing referral model, judge us by the same five checks. This article names what every option on the list is genuinely good at, including Checkatrade. If we only make sense after the others have been made to look stupid, we don’t make sense.
Why tradespeople go looking for alternatives
“Checkatrade alternatives” is a search made by people already on the platform, and the review pages explain why. The recurring complaint themes in Checkatrade’s Trustpilot reviews from tradespeople are consistent: shared enquiries (the same homeowner going to several member trades at once), 12-month contract lock-in, and membership money going out whether or not work comes back. The membership itself runs £30–500+ a month with no per-lead fee, and one enquiry can be shared with 10–20+ member trades. One trade member’s much-quoted account on Tool Talk: £800 spent, 3 jobs won, 27 timewasters. One person’s numbers, not our measurement, and Checkatrade itself holds 4.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot from over 75,000 mostly-homeowner reviews. It is the arithmetic, not the rating, that sends trades to this page.
None of that makes Checkatrade a scam. It makes it a directory: it sells listings and enquiries, and the enquiry usually goes to more than one of you. Every alternative below should be judged on the same question, when a real job appears, how many businesses are you racing?
The 7 alternatives, honestly
1. TrustATrader
The closest like-for-like swap: a membership directory with vetting and reviews, and a strong consumer brand in some regions. Membership is £240–750 a year upfront, capped at 10 trades per category per area. What it’s genuinely good at: profile-plus-reviews presence you can point customers at. What doesn’t change: it’s the same shared-directory model, the homeowner still sees a list, and the enquiry can still turn into a quoting race.
2. MyBuilder
Job-board model: the homeowner posts the job, interested trades pay to be shortlisted. No monthly membership, you pay per job you chase, typically £5–35 a lead, £50+ for larger jobs, which suits small or new trades. The trade-off is that the job is usually shared with 3–5 trades quoting against each other. Full breakdown in our MyBuilder reviews for tradespeople.
3. Bark
Credit system: you buy credits up front, at £1.80 a credit, and spend them to unlock a customer’s contact details. A typical enquiry runs £9–36+, high-value ones £30–70+, and unused credits expire after 3 months. It covers far more service categories than the trades directories and can deliver volume fast. The complaint themes are also the loudest of any platform here, Bark holds a 1.2-star rating on PissedConsumer, with fake-lead and credit-refund complaints the dominant themes. We’ve covered the mechanics in Bark reviews for tradespeople.
4. Rated People
Same family as MyBuilder: homeowner posts, trades pay to quote. Pricing is £15–40 a lead plus a £30–60 monthly subscription, so the floor cost is low next to a big membership. Same structural catch: each job is shared with up to 3 trades, and the cheapest quote has the inside track.
5. Your own marketing (Google Business Profile + a real website)
The only option on this list you own. A properly built Google Business Profile plus a site that ranks for “[your trade] in [your town]” produces enquiries that come to you alone, with no per-enquiry fee, forever. The honest downsides: it takes months to build, it’s ongoing work (reviews, photos, content), and it produces nothing while you wait. Most trades should be building this in the background regardless of what else they use.
6. Partnerships and word of mouth, done deliberately
Estate agents, complementary trades, builders who need subbies, designers who need someone to execute. A handful of working relationships can quietly outproduce a directory membership, and a recommended trade doesn’t get price-shopped the way a listed one does. Downside: slow to build, hard to scale, stops if you stop feeding the relationships.
7. The one-partner referral model (this is ours)
Disclosure again, because this one is us. A referral company builds consumer brands people go to when the problem hits, checks each job is real, and then recommends exactly one business in that area, the partner who holds it. The homeowner never sees a list. You’re not racing anyone: it’s 1 of 1, not 1 of 10. The catch is the honest one: one partner per area means your area may already be taken, and volume is capped by what the brand genuinely attracts, nobody pads the number with “someday, maybe” enquiries.
A directory sells you a place in the race. A referral hands you the customer, one name, yours.
How to score any of them: the five checks
We publish a five-check quality bar called The Referral Standard, and we think it’s the right rubric for judging any provider on this page, including us. Before you pay anyone for an enquiry, ask whether it passes: real & reachable (does the number even ring?), in their own words (did the customer describe the job, or did a form?), timeline stated (is there a date, or a daydream?), still an open job (is the work already done or signed?), and one buyer only (how many firms got this same enquiry?).
| Option | Model | Typical cost | One buyer only? | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Checkatrade | Membership directory | £30–500+/mo, no per-lead fee | No, one enquiry to 10–20+ trades | New trades needing visible reviews fast |
| TrustATrader | Membership directory | £240–750/yr upfront | No, same shared model | Regional brand-name presence |
| MyBuilder | Pay-per-shortlist job board | £5–35 typical, £50+ larger jobs | No, shared with 3–5 trades | Small jobs, no monthly commitment |
| Bark | Credit system | £1.80/credit; £9–36+ typical; credits expire after 3 months | No, up to 5 buyers per enquiry | Volume across many service categories |
| Rated People | Pay-per-quote job board | £15–40/lead + £30–60/mo | No, shared with up to 3 trades | Low-cost topping up between jobs |
| Own marketing | You own it | Your time, no per-lead fee | Yes, enquiries come to you alone | Every established trade, long term |
| One-partner referral | Warm handover, one firm per area | Per referral, only if it passes five checks | Yes, by design | Trades who want jobs, not races |
A note on those prices: none of the five biggest UK platforms publishes a full price list, and Rated People and TrustATrader publish nothing. The ranges above are from the UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker (22 July 2026) and the platforms’ own terms, treat them as the honest bracket, not a rate card. The full dated table, UK platforms and US call markets side by side, is in lead prices UK and US.
Directory vs referral, the structural difference
| What matters | Shared-leads directory | One-partner referral |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets the enquiry | Several member firms at once | One partner. Nobody else, ever |
| What the homeowner sees | A list to compare and price-shop | One recommended name, yours |
| What you pay for | Membership and the chance to quote | Referrals that passed five checks |
| A bad enquiry | Usually yours to absorb | Fails a check → not sent, not billed |
| Contract | Lock-in is a recurring complaint theme | Hold your area; release it when you like |
Who should pick what
- Brand new, no reviews, empty diary: a directory earns its keep, reviews compound and spare capacity makes shared enquiries tolerable. Read is Checkatrade worth it for tradespeople before signing anything with a 12-month term.
- Established and busy:your own marketing plus partnerships, and drop the platforms that make you race for work you’d win anyway.
- High-value jobs where one timewaster costs a day: exclusivity matters more than volume, understand shared vs exclusive leads vs referrals before buying anything.
- Want the work without running the marketing: that’s the referral model’s job. The definition doing the work there is in referral vs lead. See how it works for exclusive trade leads, one company per area, and check whether your area is still open, because one partner per area means it genuinely might not be.
Published 11 August 2026. Complaint themes referenced above are drawn from public reviews on Tool Talk, Trustpilot and PissedConsumer as of August 2026, they are reported accounts, not our measurements. Price ranges are from the UK Trade Lead Cost Tracker (22 July 2026) and the platforms’ own published terms; confirm current rates directly before buying.